Emergency Responders Essay

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In today’s world, so many evil ideas and acts are being planned or carried out that it is impossible to be completely prepared all the time. These acts of terrorism or evil can occur at any time and any place. These horrible acts can be done by one person, an organized crime group, or thousands of people all over the world connected through social media. In order to prevent another terrorist attack from occurring in the United States, the whole community must work together. Understanding the threats, outcomes, and risks of terrorism will make any community within the United States more resilient.
Terrorism is difficult to define because it can take on many different forms and can involve many different types of people. However, numerous …show more content…

During the immediate response phase, a first responder may get physically injured or be killed. They also have the risk of developing long term health effects or mental illness including stress disorders. Other risks to emergency responders can happen before the terrorist attack occurs. Collecting information and intelligence properly allows agencies to connect the dots so that they prevent, deter, and combat terrorism (Policing, 2008). Once the information is analyzed, it is important to make sure it is shared with agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. If information on terrorism and terrorists is not collected and shared, it may prevent emergency responders from properly doing their jobs. For instance, “police came face-to-face with three of the 9/11 hijackers in traffic stops” prior to the terrorist attack (Policing, 2008). Due to lack of information sharing, the police officers did not arrest the terrorists, which may have prevented the 9/11 attacks. It is also important that emergency responders recognize and understand the signs of terrorism. “Surveillance, elicitation, tests of security, funding, acquiring supplies, impersonation, rehearsal, and deployment” are eight signs of terrorism according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Recognizing, 2009). If emergency responders are not familiar with the signs of terrorism they will not be able to properly document

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